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Pikmin 2 is a strategy game which involves you playing as Captain Olimar and Captain Louie, two astronauts from the Planet Hocotate.
(BackStory) - Captain Olimar crash landed on an uncharted planet (Earth), and his ship, The Dolphin, was missing various parts which needed to be found in order for him to return home. While on the planet Captain Olimar finds an object buried in the ground which looks like a carrot. He picks the carrot and finds out it is actually alive. He names the creature a Pikmin, named after a brand of carrots from Planet Hocotate called 'PikPik Carrots'. Using the help of the Pikmin he finds more and eventually gets all of his ship parts and goes home.

Now for where we were left hanging. In Pikmin 2 the first scene shows Captain Olimar returning to Planet Hocotate. When he gets there he finds the President and Captain Louie waiting. The President tells Captain Olimar that while Captain Louie was on a journey with the Planets supply of 'Golden Pikpik Carrots", they were all eaten by some sort of space rabbits. This caused the whole Planet to go into debt. Captain Olimar then tells the President about the treasure back on the planet he crash landed on, and so the President orders Captain Olimar and Louie to go back to the planet and to collect enough treasure to pay of the debt of 10k.
What really Happened to the Golden Pikpik Carrots -

Spoiler

Louie ate them all

GTF MOVING, YOUR PLANETS IN DEBT!

.Types Of Pikmin.In Pikmin 1 there were 3 types of Pikmin. These were Red, Yellow, and Blue. In Pikmin 2 there are 2 more additions which are Purple and White. Here's all the information you'll need about them -

Blue Pikmin.
Ability: It is the only Pikmin with Gills, which allows it to travel through water.
Secondary Ability: N/A.
Attack Power: 3/5.
Running Speed: 3/5.
Other Information: The Blue Pikmin is obviously best suited for situations which include water, but they aren't the weakest of the 5 types of Pikmin and so are good for use in battle if you are travelling with them already.

Red Pikmin.
Main Ability: Cannot be harmed by fire.
Secondary Ability: N/A.
Attack Power: 4/5.
Running Speed: 3/5.
Other Information: The Red Pikmin is and obvious choice for fighting enemies that use fire as an attack, but the Red Pikmin are the 2nd strongest Pikmin and so should be used for battles in general.

Yellow Pikmin.
Main Ability: Cannot be harmed by electricity.
Secondary Ability: Can be thrown higher than any other Pikmin.
Attack Power: 3/5.
Running Speed: 3/5.
Other Information: The Yellow Pikmin is the best choice for electric obstacles or enemies, but if you are already travelling with them and encounter a large enemy they can still be used to have a good effect, but due to the fact they are thrown so high it takes longer for them to land into the attack.

White Pikmin.
Main Ability: Invulnerable to poison.
Secondary Ability: Can dig up treasure that is completely buried and unseen by the player.
3rd Ability: Can poison an enemy if eaten.
Attack Power: 2/5.
Running Speed: 5/5.
Other Information: Best suited to situations which involve poison, and can be used as a sacrifice if needed to kill off an enemy, although I don't recommend this. They're the fastest Pikmin type, but are also the weakest, so it's really up to you what you use them for. I'd say use the White's to quickly take back treasure while your stronger Pikmin fight off any enemies in the way.

Purple Pikmin.
Main Ability: 10X Strength
Secondary Ability: N/A.
Attack Power: 5/5.
Running Speed: 1/5.
Other Information: Best suited to full on attacks on stronger enemies, being the strongest Pikmin. They can also paralyse the enemy for a few seconds, and even longer if you continuously throw them onto an enemies back. These also come in handy if you are short of Pikmin, as when carrying treasure they count as 10 single Pikmin, meaning less are needed to carry treasure back. Although it is much slower.

Yeah, it's called a PIKMIN, ass hole ¬¬

.Treasure/Pellets.The pellets are one of the most important items in the game, and come in 3 different colours. These are Red, Yellow, and Blue. So unfortunately the White and Purple Pikmin get left out of this feature. Pellets, as in Pikmin 1, are used to produce more Pikmin via asexual reproduction. Not only are they found in the 3 different colours, but also come in different sizes. The bigger the size and number of the Pellet, the more Pikmin you would get from it. For example, a size 5 Pellet would give you 5 Pikmin, and a size 20 would give you 20, pretty obvious. If a Red Pikmin takes a Yellow size 20 Pellet however, it would only give you 10 Red Pikmin. So make sure you always match Pellets to the Pikmin. Remember that Pellets aren't the only way of getting more Pikmin, and sometimes aren't worth going for over an enemies corpse.

Now for treasure. Treasure is your main objective in Pikmin 2. Get enough of it to cover the 10K debt, and mission complete, although after completing it, you go back to the Planet and search for every last bit of treasure, and until then the game isn't completed. Treasure requires a certain amount of Pikmin to carry it back to the Ship, which is where it is stored. The amount of Pikmin usually depends on the size of the treasure but sometimes varies. Each piece of treasure is worth a certain amount of 'Poko's', which is the currency for the Planet Hocotate. Some of the treasure will be out in the open, and easy to get once found, but other treasure will be guarded by creatures, or even inside them. Treasure can also be hidden behind walls which your Pikmin must knock down, or even underground, in which you must use your White Pikmin to seek it out. I recommend getting all the treasure you can while you have the chance, because to complete the game you're going to have to go back for it anyway.

.Dungeons.

(Entertainment Value: 8/10)

Dungeons are a new addition to Pikmin 2. The dungeons are where you can hit the jackpot when it comes to treasure, but they have the enemies to suit it too. When you get too a dungeons entrance and click it, a box comes up telling you what the dangers are and the name of the dungeon etc., After this you can choose whether or not you really want to enter the dungeon with your current squad of Pikmin. Upon entering the dungeon you'll notice it's darker than the outside, and that there isn't a time limit. You can stay in the dungeon for as long as you want. There are several floors in the dungeon, and as the dungeons get harder there are more and more floors, and each floor also gets harder as you progress. Each floor contains various treasure, enemies and other extras. The extras can include Pikmin flowers. These let you throw up to 5 Pikmin in, and whichever colour the flower is, that is the colour the Pikmin will come back out as. With most of the dungeons, having reached the last floor of it you face a boss enemy. Most of these are easy with only 2 or 3 being tricky to beat. If you don't think before you attack then be prepared to lose a lot of Pikmin. After beating the boss you'll either get just a normal piece of treasure, or a special piece which can enhance your ship, suit etc. You'll then be blasted back up to surface and continue the game.

The Water Wraith, Coolest, Boss, Ever.

.Enemies.

(DecentEnemyScale: 7/10)

Enemies, they appear in almost every game, and are the cause of most video game deaths. There isn't really much to say about the enemies in Pikmin 2. The classic Bulborbs and Bulblaxs are still in it, a long with various other enemies from Pikmin 1. The good thing about Pikmin 2 though, is the fact that there is a far more bigger variety of enemies than there was in Pikmin 1. While Pikmin 1 featured almost all the same enemies in each area, Pikmin 2 has not just different species of enemies, but also has more types of one species than Pikmin 1 did. Apart from that, the only other thing I can say is that the enemies are stupid and are keen on keeping within their territory. If an enemy chases you, you can just run out of the area its in and it'll just return to its original spot. Sure, a lot of enemies do this, but if they chased your further it'd be better (IMO). The reason they're stupid? All of them, except Bulblaxs, stay asleep even if you walk right next to them, but once you touch them slightly, they wake up. The bosses are cool, as they always should be. There's only 3 hard ones, which is (without releasing spoilers), the last one (obviously), the 'Crab/Lobster like thing', and the 'Queen'.

.Multiplayer.

(Entertainment Value: 9/10)

Multiplayer is one of the main things which makes a game great, except for a great storyline of course. Anyway, after Pikmin 1 didn't feature multiplayer Nintendo decided that Pikmin 2 needed it, and it got it, featuring 2 modes. The first one is a 2 player battle mode. This can be accessed from the start. One player plays as Olimar using Red Pikmin (maximum of 50) and the other plays as Louie using Blue Pikmin (also a maximum of 50). The aim of the game is to either steal the opponents Base Marble, or to collect 4 yellow marbles. When Pikmin are killed by your opponents Pikmin, they re spawn at your Onion, but when a creature kills one, they're dead for good. The are around 10 stages to choose form, and depending on how many Pikmin you choose to start with, there are 3 different types of that one stage, meaning there's around 30 different stages. This is a good multiplayer experience, and can keep you going for hours.

The second multiplayer mode is unlockable, and you can also play it as a single player mode. Due to the fact it's an unlockable it would be a spoiler to tell you, so I'll write about it in here -

Spoiler

The unlockable mode is Challenge Mode. In this mode you must collect the Key at the end of the dungeon before time runs out in order to complete the challenge. The more treasure you collect along the way the more points you earn. There are around 20 different challenges to play, in either single player mode or multiplayer mode. Of course with a friend you would think it'd be easier to collect all the treasure, but it depends on how good your friend is, and whether they can cooperate with you. There isn't much else to say about this, except it's basically like doing a dungeon except with a friend and a time limit.

Multiplayer Mayhem! x3

.Controls.

(Handling Rating: 7/10)The controls would be the main thing Nintendo would be looking to improve on this, with it being a 'New Play Control' title. They're pretty easy to use once you get used to them, with each action being in the right place for easy use. Although if you played the original Gamecube version, the controls are extremely hard to get used to, with them having no relation to the original controls at all, and each action being a completely different button. New comers to the game would easily be able to learn the controls quickly however, which is a plus. The control uses the motion aiming to point where to throw Pikmin and to point at them to call the back, but unfortunately didn't include the flicking of the Wii remote to throw a Pikmin.

Now for a few words on the ratings -

.Graphics.The graphics are more or less the same as Pikmin 1's, but you can tell they have improved slightly. With the camera being focused in a tilted over head view, you can't really see some badly graphical parts of the game, such as certain enemies having a dodgy jaw, and the physics of the Pikmin attacking being in a low frame rate. But as long as you keep the camera at the normal view point, none of this is noticeable, and the game looks great. (8/10)

.Sound.The sound in Pikmin 1 was great, and it's even better in Pikmin 2. The slow music during certain areas really suits what's happening, even during a battle, and the boss battle music is far different to any I've heard, which is great. Only a few of the songs in the game are average, and these are often some of the dungeon themes. (10/10)

.Gameplay.Classic Pikmin gameplay, as expected. It's slow at first, but once you get further into the game the pace speeds up and you really have to be careful or you could lose everything. Pikmin's known for being easy but can be very hard at times. It would have been a bit better if there was an online mode, which would have made gameplay even better, but with the multiplayer mode it has its good enough. (9/10)

.Storyline.I think the storyline is far better than Pikmin 1's. It's simple, yet pretty creative. Hocotate goes into debt because they lost all the Golden Pikpik Carrots, yeah, its good. It gets better when the President decides to join though, it really shows the personality of the character when he wants to go back to the Planet to get more treasure, which you don't normally see in a game. (9.5/10)